The Land Voyage
by Syeroix
Summary: She's just trying to sneak some time playing her favorite video game when a blackout unexpectedly sticks her in there, but not in her own body. A self-insert fic, will follow the storyline.
1. Prelude to definition

Time for covert operations. It was a Friday and a short day for me. I got off at a little before noon and arrived home approximately a half-an-hour after that. Luckily, today was cool and windy so I didn't reek of sweat on the trek home. I ought to rethink my rather ingenious idea of wearing dark shirts to school. Though I hadn't much choice else wise and much preferred the pleasant navy to the irritating white and yellow that comprised my other options. Walking in the desert back and forth in the hot sun with nearly black shirts surely wasn't the best way to belay heatstroke but then again I've been doing just that for years now and have yet to encounter any life threatening situations.

I burst into my house and took a minute to worship the air conditioning. Oh glorious apparatus that permitted us to live in the desert as we do! Continuing on, I flung my bag on the floor and headed to the kitchen for refreshment with the pesky dog on my tail piously requesting affection. I acquired my glass of icy lemonade and returned back to my room- my sanctuary.

Here it was. I snickered as I pulled it out of the case. Another of the games I liked in the collection and it was already a favorite. My sister wasn't home yet and wasn't due to arrive for a few hours yet, so I finally had time to play the cherished game alone. I could play without being forced second player and my dear sister controlling the main character. In fact I was home alone for about four hours. It was time to play Tales of Vesperia. I grabbed my faithful white controller, lovingly dubbed Picante, and put my sister's black controller on the file cabinet. I pressed down the almighty green button in the center and heard the always entertaining swhooom of the Xbox being activated. The actual console had a name as well, I once suggested it to my sister by way of calling shotgun. The title stuck and the white machine was duly named Shotgun.

Messing around with the settings a bit, I logged on my profile and then clicked on the image for the game on the menu. It loaded fine and I listened cheerfully to the opening. The lyrics didn't make a lick of sense but I'd damn my shirt if they weren't catchy. I mean, at least it had lyrics, rather unlike the openings Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Symphonia did in their translated forms. The instrumentals were nice, but the original versions were better.

I clicked past the start menu and begun a new game. I was too busy quenching my thirst to notice for the television at the moment, I placed the glass down on my desk and whirled the chair to face the television once more. I was surprised when I saw a black screen with the Vesperia logo star plastered upon it sans any wording propositioned over it.

..._Loading._

What in all seven hells could it be loading? The game had already done so.

_...Please reinsert disc._

I stared, confounded at the screen and, like any rational person would do, obeyed the text like a mindless zombie. I opened the disc tray and, before closing it again, polished the bottom surface on the disc with one of my scattered pieces of clean laundry. It closed with an almost ominous whirr of console mechanics and suddenly it all went dark.

"What the flaming fudge?!" I shouted as the room around me lost all tangibility around me. I floated in what seemed like an endless void when a rush of tingling sensation took me. I was ripped from all sides yet intact, felt all over and yet untouched. A whirring vortex of feelings in discord- in an instant it was overwhelming and yet never more than a brush of sensation. Images spiraled on for fathoms and then puddle-deep. My mind went black and I dropped into nothing.

~*~*~

I woke with an odd stiffness in my neck that somehow reminded me of a broken slinky. Did I sleep on the wrong side of the bed? I blinked open my eyes and had to shield them from the sudden effuse of light. I pushed myself upright my hands and felt the chilling touch of cold stone like tiles after a cold night. I knew I was not were I had left myself. I didn't remember where I did and instantly my mind went into a centrifuge of conspiracy theories and odd thoughts.

What if I was kidnapped and taken for ransom? But then they wouldn't leave me in a cave. What if I was going to be the sacrifice at some weird mountain ritual and they thought I would be unconscious and left me unguarded? Though this didn't have the feel of any place I'd been before so I'd had to have been unconscious for a while to be anywhere I didn't recognize.

The walls were an eerily smooth marble-gray, quite obviously by weathering and erosion. Outside was a vista of unparalleled beauty, not really though. It was more rocks. Except rougher and not smoothed by the odd winded properties of the cave. If I peeked up a bit I could see beyond the cliff and view the startlingly green hillocks and the small blots of creatures moving about in the distance. What was the oddest thing was the lack of human noise, civilization of sorts. I could hear no murmur of activity, not even a car wooshing by or its alarm echoing in the street. The color of the stone and the environment didn't match what I knew as the peaks that made a valley out of my home near the desert I lived in.

I finally activated my legs and stood up, careful of my footing on the unevenly smooth floor of the cave. I looked down I could see where I steppe- _wait a minute_. These aren't my legs. My legs are not here? I paused again to further examine this weird happening. My legs are definitely not this tan. These are sun-kissed. My legs were as pale as, well, Jack Skellington. It had embarrassed me to admit this since I usually prided myself on having a nice Mexican tan. I do, but on my arms. Speaking, or rather thinking of arms... I looked over these limbs as well, and found that they were not my own either. I lacked the usual dots scattered across my skin and I could've sworn that I didn't have that fresh paper cut or those oddly girly fingers encased in tough leather gloves. Taking a moment to take a better inventory, this whole body wasn't mine. Rail-thin yet curvaceous and, unfairly, bigger boobs. Well mine were fine, but these are nice... got distracted there. I observed my clothing, which is in muted fall tones with some dashes of red and I'm donned in garments I would never have found myself wearing. My new shirt was worse as it displayed this body's pleasant cleavage, at it least covered my gut. I definitely wasn't in my own body which had left me to wonder.

Whose body was this?

This led me down one of my rumbling trails of thought which had somehow ended in Nicole Kidman, and that didn't really relate to the situation at all- unless I'd turned into some sort of emotionless alien life form that takes over others bodies. I was fairly sure I would've known if that had been the case, but then I was not sure of much right then, so who was to say? For the time being I had better figure out where in all seven hells I was.

I finally emerged from the gorge in the rock's surface and got a gust blown directly into my face. I moved my hair out of my way and felt something damp. I had pulled back my finger to see red, but a dried chocolate-red meaning I had been bleeding. I could've told the color of that anywhere, especially after having taken a course on forensic science- and not just for the television series. I was an addict to crime and murder mystery novels. Either way I had felt around and discovered two things. First, the wound on my head had already scabbed over, and the second; I had a hat. This discovery had distracted me much more than the first. I had a hat, and not just any hat, I soon discovered as I had taken it off my head. A cool pumpkin orange newsboy cap, accentuated with a little belt. I had loved this hat and I then named it. Pondering a bit, I poked at the hat and spoke aloud.

"I'll call you Mitochondria!" I spewed the first thing that came to mind- not a good naming solution but it worked anyways and was how I had named a number of objects in the past. Seeing a blood splotch on my lovely new Mitochondria, I remembered. Yes, I was bleeding. I was also a stupid git to forget that. The problem had been that I obtained nothing to wipe it with, unless I had wanted to go topless or endanger myself to wounds on the rocks further with no protection, assuming this body had gotten hurt that way in the first place.

I paid attention to my real mission then, I found a pathway that had looked a bit.. used, which sparked my hope for meeting other people to help figure out this dilemma. The body I was in was oddly easy to get used to. I didn't have to even try, really. You'd think I would have to get used to the longer legs and height but it wasn't as difficult as it might have been. I followed the path, and was led to a ledge with what had looked like were hand and foot holds. I paused, sure that I would have been unable to get down but, there had been no other way. I promptly gave up and begun to descend. My grip on the stones had come easily, along with how I was able to swing from one foothold to another and it had made me wonder. How much untapped potential did I not know of in this body?

I reached the ground and crawled through another space. I stepped out and my breath was taken from my lungs. I'm in ruins with statues and broken buildings of ancient porcelain white. Easily I could pick out where buildings once stood and have a glimpse of what this place used to be. The pathways were granite and few buildings still stood up to the erosion of time but it still was an epic place. Everything here had a purpose though they it seemed they did take time for aesthetics in brilliant but now faded blue designs and statues of what could be a long-lost goddess. I picked my way through the city ravaged by disrepair and I get faint glimpses of recognition, but I couldn't have been here before. Archaeologists wouldn't have let a civilian anywhere near their finds unless behind several lasers and a glass or plexiglass case. Too soon, I exited the city.

Outside of the area I found two people standing and talking dressed in garments the likes of which I've only seen in Anime conventions. Much like the outfit I was in, unsurprisingly. I'm so happy to finally have found people that I didn't cover the sound of my approach and they turned having heard my footsteps. They were two young girls in white robes that also screamed for my recognition. Both leaped up at seeing me and look worried.

"Geez I'm glad we're here! You're covered in blood!" The pale orange haired girl spoke indignantly.

"We came... all the way from Aspio.. Poor Miss Ideen is hurt.." The shy looking one with fiery orange hair commented quietly.

A spark started a wildfire of thought in my mind. The ruins, the clothing, the name Aspio. It couldn't be true was my firm belief until my memories flooded back to me. I had just turned on the game when I was transported here somehow. The truth is revealed and it was not something that I could deny with the clothing more realistic than the best cosplayer could ever had made it back home. The two orange haired twins wore the robes of Aspio researchers and these ruins were the ones near the town in game. It hit me like a ton of bricks and my mouth gaped open.

"Ideen?" I questioned before I can think on it further.

"That's your name, yes." The angrier twin spoke up.

"Well that's dandy, and you are?"

"You how... what.. remember?" She sputtered.

"What she means to say.. pardon, but did you forget us Ms. Ideen?" The quieter one translated.

"I don't remember anything frankly." I lie airly and believable since I actually didn't know these two.

"Thehe blood! Head! Injury!" The angry one spoke up again.

"Yes, sister. That's what must have caused her amnesia. I do apologize for speaking as though you are not present." The quiet one speaks.

An eloquent quiet girl and a temperamental girl who stuttered. How did who I was before come across such an odd pair? They looked exactly alike but for their expressions and colors of their hair. What was it they had called me, Ideen? Well... that's was a stupid name. My thoughts provided me with the drab word choice.

"Anyways since you can't remember, you're Ideen Atwyn a researcher at Aspio. I'm Apple and my sister over there is Pomegranate. Don't call me Apple though, I'll kill you. I go by App or Appi and my sister likes to be called Pome." The pale orange haired one spoke up, having interrupted my train of thought and apparently regaining her ability to form complete sentences. "Anything you do remember, Mistress Ideen?"

I paused for a moment in thought. Was there anything I did remember? These two poor children haphazardly named after fruits seemed almost familiar now and anything else seemed odd apart from the fact that I played this in my world as a game. Though it was knowingly less detailed and all from Yuri's perspective. A sudden thought comes to me unbidden with a strong urge to obey and I did so. I placed my hand near my right ear I extended my other arm and faced away from the girls.

"O' flickering blaze burn. Fireball!" As I chanted the incantation energy flowed from the point on my ear and it spread like roots throughout my body. It was an empowering sensation as I felt energy taken bit by bit like playing a game of tetris and focused through my arm. A simple fireball bursts out in a bullet trajectory from where I had shot it and the tree I faced was now aflame. The girls near me paused a moment and then the quiet one summoned a water spell. I'm too focused on the idea of 'WhatTheHellIJustUsedMagic' to have heard her incantation but I could clearly see the results. I wanted to show my confusion but it wasn't really a good idea with my limited grasp of what went on so I remained stagnant faced as Pome, Appi, and I faced each other once more. Never show your whole hand.

"She can cast." Pome spoke up in her melodically sad voice.

"Yeah, but that's about it. Only a simple spell and she seems to have lost all her grace with magic. She's just using it like some... some uneducated buffoon of a warrior!" Appi spat out harshly.

"Appi..."

"Sorry Pome... it's just hard for me.. Mistress Ideen is just suddenly not the brilliant person she used to be."

"I'm thinking standing here where we can attacked at any moment isn't a good idea. Can we have this discussion elsewhere?" I interrupted, not wanting to have my unknown skills forged in battle. I wanted a grasp of it at least. The twins looked up at me with wide eyes and blinked oddly for a moment. They looked to each other and nodded.

"Well then let's go back to your place in Aspio." Appi spoke up again, leading the way as her sister and I followed.

It hit me again. Aspio. I'm really in Tales of Vesperia aren't I? If I remembered correctly, on the continent of Illycia. I had my doubts about this being real still but they grew increasingly unfounded. My dreams may have been weirdly detailed and story-like but nothing like this. It's was hard thing to accept, but a wish come true. I always wanted to be in other worlds.

But still. Aspio. The reality was more daunting my thoughts.

**A/N: **I have been writing for a while but sticking to original fiction more than fanfiction. So this is technically my first fic. Ask me about technicalities later.

Unbeta'd by read over by myself again and my lovely sister Rissetto. When I get excited I forget how to use tense it seems.

Comments, flames, and constructive criticism are graciously accepted.


	2. Knowledge in the Shadows

Here we were in the mad little house in the mad little town. Don't think I mean angry either. Everyone licensed their own brand of crazy here. Some did it better than others and that's what I was figuring out sitting at the table. The room was comfortable with a distinctly homey touch that seemed more Martha Stewart than any researcher I had ever seen. The only thing in the living room that indicated a mind that was gluttonous for knowledge was the chalkboard with symbols on one wall and the papers that seemed to have spilled from her research room. The owner of the body I now inhabited seemed like an interesting, cough crazy cough; person and I would have loved to steal her books. My mind then decided to tune into the fact that I had missed looking at the views of Aspio on the way here since I was lost in my thoughts. I grumbled at myself and the twins looked up. They whispered to each other and then turned back to me.

"You should get cleaned up." The two look-alikes spoke in unison for the first time.

That was how they had discovered I had something the same as their dear Ideen, or for them, that I had retained something from before my amnesia. This had all come in the form of the distracting hat I mentioned earlier. In a move they had made to undress me, Pome snatched my hat. I looked up and then immediately issued a protest that had gotten their attention.

"Nooo! Not Mitochondria!" I wailed as I reached for the pumpkin orange hat. Both paused from their game of having tossed it back and forth to look at me. Eventually Appi claimed the hat and waved it around.

"What did you say?"

"The hat…. I named it Mitochondria."

"So you remember naming things like that?" Appi had given me puppy eyes as her sister had taken on an expression of more remorseful hope. I didn't want to have to spill it to them but I had to lie. As Ideen I didn't remember simply because I wasn't her, though I myself have had this odd habit for years.

"No…" Was all I had said in a tone that spoke of what was voiced and an '_I'm Sorry'_ wedged in there. Frowns had highlighted their replicated features and both had taken on a grim aura. Pome walked off with the excuse to wash my named hat and Appi had sat back down frowning before she issued directions.

"Bath is down the hall to your left. I'll bring you new clothes."

I obeyed the diminutive human's orders having decided that the two needed time to sort out me by themselves. I had found the washroom exceptionally easy and was surprised to see it have the same layout as bathrooms back on Earth, well the western hemisphere of Earth. It had been my thought that since it was a Japanese developed game that they would have inserted their own cultures into it. It, however, was the truth that they needed to appeal to other audiences and most Japanese seemed fond of western styles anyways so the idea worked out. One thing I was sure was different than Earth type bathrooms was plumbing. In my time playing the game, I had never seen an instance where plumbing might be used or if I did, I did not remember.

So I had taken a chance by inspecting the apparatuses in the bathroom further. I jiggled the handle above the sink and it seemed they did have plumbing. Oh by divinities across, I was saved from hauling my own water from god knows where or trying casting again. I locked the door, shut off the sink, and started the bath. It filled with water steaming fresh like hot springs in which I tossed a handful of bath salts. Soon the room was swarmed with the soft embrace of lavender. I stripped faster than a night at the playboy mansion and then had immersed myself into the absolute cover of the warm water. It had been forever since I had taken a bath. Not in the sense that I stank like rock salt in the sewers, but so in the fact that I had been showering since I couldn't find peace to relax and bathe.

I enjoyed the sheer luxury of the moment until my mind demanded attention to thinking. I tried to avoid the responsibility of thought, but have you ever attempted to evade your mind? In short, it does not work. There are three possible outcomes to avoiding your thoughts. One, you end up on an uncomfortable couch telling your darkest secrets to a balding man who clearly has issues himself since he enjoys listening to you. Two, you get needles in your brain and a free stay in a luxurious but color deprived room with padded walls and nothing pointy. Third, you think yourself a hero of the world surrounded by three half-angels; have two of them die without you being able to do much then stay friends with the last as he slowly goes crazy. Then he goes batshit and you get stuck with a little blonde with bird hair and die to save him. He then takes your personality and hits on your girlfriend and another clingy girl with huge knockers.

Getting back to what I had been talking about, my mind then dove into a spiral of thoughts. No vorpal sword could stop me from having wondered these things. Would my family miss me? Did time pass while I was gone? Would my sister kill me for touching her X-box? Would she be glad I was gone? Would she steal my new laptop? Would I miss my birthday?  
Then I went from Earth thoughts to Terca Lumieres thoughts.  
How much would I change things by being here? How much had I already, taking over this chick's body? Though not intentionally of course. How would I react to the people of this world, specifically the group I knew from afar and through a television screen and loved? Would I meet with them? Was I even in the same timeline? I knew I was not after the timeline due to the blastia still working and that was about it. I then had sat up sharply. It was simple. There was one way to determine vaguely what time I was in and that way came in the form of a mage whose insanity was basically brand name top of the line stuff.

I had to locate Rita Mordio.

It could possibly be easy if I would just walk around town though there was a whole plan I had to go through. Once I determined my location in the tim- wait. Another way now popped in, I could ask if Flynn had come through here. Not as specific as I would have liked but workable in the chances that the fiery short teenager was unlocatable. With my plan in mind, I notice that I've been here in a while and the water is lukewarm. I giggle for a moment and wonder if it could be asch-warm before I get out of the tub. The water is drained and I then found fresh clothes outside the door.

"_**Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."**_

_-Oscar Wilde_

The two who knew the old soul of this body now sat at the large oaken table that was once covered in research though now devoid of the smattering of papers. I sat across them after they motioned for me to do so and now was observing the conflicting twins. Both seemed gloomy but more in concentration than having wallowed in depression. Mitochondria had sat newly cleaned in the centre of the tabletop before I grabbed it and struck it on my head. The siblings look up at this movement and Appi took the chance to try and speak.

"He-"Appi start and then ends, getting intercepted by none other than myself. Why? Some might ask, well at that moment I just didn't like the atmosphere of held back saturnine.

"How old are you guys anyhow?" I posed this question flippantly.

"Fourteen." Appi replied with a confused frown. "Why?"

"Well to be perfectly honest you guys look... well…" I began, sputtering off since both had set their piercing double gazes on me. It could unnerve anyone having two children inspecting your every move and judging your every word. I continued nonetheless. "You look twelve."

"She... thinks... short?" Appi decided to have a moment and her personality proceeded to wither as lettuce left out too long would do. The pastel orange haired girl buried herself in her robe. As we were more mature and could ignore comments that hint at lack of height, Pomegranate and I ignored her.

"How old am I then?" I queried.

"Twenty Three." The brighter haired twin replied, obviously wishing she could sum up all the answers to my questions in one word or that Appi got over being called short. She seemed much curter than she had been yesterday when she spewed elegant sentences calling me Miss. I wondered if this is because she has figured out that I am not twenty-three year old Ideen. The ex-inhabitant of this body was only five years and some odd days older than me… I look back across the table and found the silent demon child with creepy eyes that used to be Pome staring at me. I cleared my throat and she blinked away the glare, allowing me to focus.

"Did I say something out loud?" I asked.

"You're different." She muttered back, not really having answered my question at all.

"I would not know, but I'd guess such."

"Incomparable."

"Is that an insult?" I arched my brow and gave her a mischievous grin. The child who could be demonic had shaken her head quite quickly as a response to the negative. She poked her sister several times until the other responded by popping out of her robe like a crazed meerkat. They then had a conversation consisting entirely out of looks.

Pomegranate stared intensely with a morose expression.

Apple then glared back, eyebrow lifted in a pantomime of confusion.

Pome, still holding a sad face, rolled her eyes expressively and then cast a sharp but quick glance like a dagger at me.

Appi took on a frown and it deepened moment by moment as she examined me before she nodded solemnly.

The brighter haired one stared once more.

The younger one now looked grim and shrugged dismissively before making a motion that I could only have described as asi-asi from Spanish class, a wave of her hands.

Pome sighed and they both then turned to me in a creepy unison. I shuddered wondering what they said in their pantomiming and the fact that Pome had used her demon stare again.

"What Pome means…" Appi started to explain with that same frown she held moments earlier with the addition of now chewing on her lip nervously. "She doesn't believe you **are** Mistress Ideen any longer." With the exception of her own name having been a clear indicator that Appi herself was still trying to believe. So my earlier assumption about the child's curtness was correct, she had figured out that amnesia was a flimsy excuse for the change of personality she had once believed I exhibited. I leaned back in my chair in a relaxed manner.

"Well..." I posed the question exuding an air of calmness. I wasn't much worried. "Why is this?"

"You speak like any normal person, like one a person could find anywhere. She spoke like she was a textbook."

"Eloquent. Intelligent." Pome had interjected, correcting her sister.

"Any other reasons?"

"Your personalities aren't much the same. The Mistress was cold and silent like an angry snake with an undying passion for knowledge and research. There was little patience she had for anything other than that and her physical training." Appi became saddened and looked away until she received a nod from her sister. With the reassurance she continued though now sounding as if her eyes would tear at any moment. "Miss Ideen would never have had listened to us… at all. She always knew best and guided us with her knowledge. She would have never asked us if we wanted to move before we got attacked. She'd… she'd just... yell at us."  
Apple bit her lip to keep from letting her sadness fully show. Though she couldn't resist it for long and walked up to me and pounded me with her small arms. She sobbed openly and yelled through every breath she could get.

"She… Ideen was cold…" Appi sorrowfully screamed. "You're warm. TOO WARM!"  
The hitting stopped soon after and the child's knees buckled, she was suffering underneath the weight of her own despair. The peach haired youth had obviously been hiding her sorrow and it lasted along with the disbelief until her own explanation caused the horrible revelation. Her hope broke when she finally understood the axiom. I was not Mistress Ideen Atwyn and would never be. Apple's sobs were weaker now as she lay on the floor curled up. Pome walked over to her fallen sister and helped her up. She then carried her upset twin to a room somewhere in the house.

"Sorry. Weak." Pomegranate said calmly as she materialized by my side. I could tell she kept back how upsetting this was for her as well.

"No. Stronger." I retorted wistfully. "Being able to show all her emotions."

At that Pome had turned away from me, thinking that I had been talking about her. Her head hung in a semblance of shame and she started sniffling. They could really tell. I was different than their master. I sighed once more and spoke again.

"I was actually referring to myself."  
Pome glanced up and nodded before finally breaking down into tears herself. I then held the young lady I once thought of as a silent demon gently as she shed her sorrow for her loss all over my shirt. Soon after that I sent her to bed where I found the twins deep asleep side by side and hand in hand.

"_**What we have done for ourselves dies with us. What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."  
**__-Albert Pike_

It had been hours since I had sent Pome off to sleep along with her sibling and I had now sat at the table in the living area. I was unable to catch a drift of sleep which could be a side effect of some world transferring jet lag. Though the more plausible reason was that I was feeling guilt over having ruined the twins' lives by having taken the body of their Ideen, it was not intentional but still something I had done. I had out before me a piece of paper and a pen, having decided to pen a letter. Though there was a major dilemma in the process. I couldn't write in their language of archaic runes. I only knew the English alphabet. I sighed and lay upon my arms on the table. Suddenly I felt a chill in the air nearby, it moved closer and got colder as it did so. Then I felt a braid of ice working up my spine until it reached to the base of my skull. It had spread as a spider web along my head until my brain felt submerged in a bucket of ice water. I heard a laugh that was diluted by the water but echoed around like it was in a cavern. I then experienced a bit of a shock, almost electrical, and then the feeling had left as soon as it came. My body temperature was normal and there was no trace of the ice that had been though there were words that felt cold as I thought them against my will.

_A gift…  
_  
I glanced about madly wondering what in all seven hells had happened until my eye got caught on the bookcase. What was once undecipherable was now _Practical Uses of Fire Blastia_. I gasped immediately having noticed that I could suddenly read. I looked over all the other title to make sure and it... the ice let me read. I would have sit and blather more on the development but I had a plan to go through and it needed to get done fast. Besides if I left the twins would not have the constant reminder of Ideen around. I then penned the letter of both farewell and explanation. It was embedded with necessary lies and cover-ups. There was no way I could explain my world, no way that they'd understand. It was dangerous to reveal all and yet the cost of keeping secrets was great. Each untold word held an unseen and unfelt dagger against your heart. It was easier with the fact that I hardly knew the twins and have had little time to know them. I finished the scribing and admired how neatly I could write their runes. There was a problem though, I couldn't be Ideen Atwyn, and so I needed a new name. My real name, Danielle, was bland and wouldn't fit in this world by my standards. So I pondered a moment until I recalled an episode of Law and Order. I had stolen the killer's last name from there and made it part of my own, I was now Zanier. The other half I had gotten by remembering nicknames I've had across the net. I smiled and tucked the letter in my pocket.

Looking around the house, I took items I would need. A bag to carry the personal effects, clothing from Ideen's closet that I didn't protest against, foods useful for traveling, paper and pen, a few books on blastia, and finally a crude weapon in the form of four different pairs of scissors. I laughed a bit at myself for the idea but I had always wondered how good they would do in a fight and it was the only useful pointy things around at the moment. Having gathered all the stuff I packed it neatly in the brown canvass like bag. I was all ready to leave but before I did, I pulled the letter back out from the pocket I had stored it in. I placed it in the middle of the table I had written it on and left the house.

_Dear Apple and Pomegranate,_

_I apologize for the way things turned out. True to your suspicions, I am not Mistress Ideen Atwyn. I merely now reside in her body. As odd as that sounds, it is what it is. I am only preaching a simple truth. I am sorry I couldn't be who you wanted but I do not know myself how this occurred. I regret the grief and sorrow I have caused for you and I tell you in simplicity that I would return you to her if I could. If my human survival didn't get in the way._

_I should tell you my true self. I am S__ÿ__rneon Zanier and I come from lands beyond the empire. Beyond that I cannot tell you much. Maybe one day I will reveal my whole self to you…_

I have taken things from around the house and will take my leave. I have a journey to go on and I am sure that you will be fine without my support. You two have each other and I'm sure Ideen would let you have free reign of her home. Live on and don't wait for me. I'll see if I can visit again one day. It was a pleasure to be found by you two but I must make my own way. I hope to find you along my path.

_The warm one,_

_S__ÿ__rneon Zanier_

I stared back at the house warmly and then took the time to look around the city I didn't admire before. The city of knowledge, Aspio. It was like in the game a dark cavern of enormous size housing a city in its gaping stone jaws. There was so much more feeling to it though actually having walked in the city. The cavern could have rivaled every football stadium in the U.S. put together or so it seemed. Aspio, for being an enclosed city did not have the feeling of being trapped, but more like it was enclosed to keep the knowledge circulating within its bounds. It was well-lit with what seemed like luminescent rock that could very well be blastia. The city had a gothic feel and an aura to the air that I couldn't possibly describe. It was buzzing with hidden energy. A smile had lit my lips and I maneuvered my way over to the main square of the town by sight until I stood in the very spot I had been in before though not as myself. Not that I was myself now. From here I glanced around until a worn pathway had caught my eye that led down to weathered stone. A spark of recognition had flared as I had followed the trail. I saw the shack at the end and knew immediately what I had found. The home of Rita Mordio, infamous mage of Aspio. All I needed to ascertain was her location so I had slid up to one of the windows and peeked inside. Sure enough the young researcher was there buried in a pile of books with candles lighting the room. With a sudden movement I had not expected, the fiery youth turned around and had almost caught sight of me before I had ducked. The panic subsided and I peeked in again to see her just having had turned away from the window. With that I then fled the area, running until I reached the square.

If Rita is here, that means she hasn't met Yuri and Estelle as of yet. I sighed in relief with my knowledge of what time I was in. She was still the same age I had seen her as in the game. I smiled and did a spin before then having exited the city gates in the hours of early morning. I was headed for Halure.

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**A/N:** This chapter is not read over by others and Unbeta'd so I apologize for any mistakes though I have tried to be rid of them.

I like this chapter much better than the first one and it is longer to my delight. This chapter is roughly 3,740 words while the other topped off at around 2,816 words. It is almost a thousand words longer which makes me happy. I like long chapters myself and this is a good length. I will try and make every chapter above 2,000 words mostly for my own satisfaction.

That being said, this chapter came out vastly more improved than the last which disappointed me. I also have not done this within a week though I will try to keep it that way.

Soon we will be rid of the fruit children as next chapter I plan to introduce the actual game characters other than that peek at Rita's backside.

Please take the time and review if you will.


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